World of Warcraft®

This letter has been delivered to the Heroes' Call board in each major Alliance city, and in the dead of night, spies have delivered it to the Warchief's Command boards in each Horde city

To participants of the war, Horde and Alliance both:

I, Gondorin Ragefang, write this note of my own accord, copied 7 additional times to be delivered to each city: Stormwind, Darnassus, Ironforge, Exodar, Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, Silvermoon City and Undercity. I will no longer use magically disguised individuals to deliver my missives, nor will I, from the relative and unassailable safety of the skies, do air drops. Things have progressed past that point. The war is come, whether you wish it or not.

To the Horde:

Shelter your children, your infirm, and your respected elderly. They are not my targets. If a child is to raise a weapon against an Alliance assault, the child will be ignored; if the weapon is swung and connects, the child will be forcibly removed, and at worst rendered unconscious. I do not, have never, nor will ever condone the murder of innocents. Children are not to blame for buying into the rhetoric of their parents. A child will show pride in all it knows, and will only exercise critical thought and analysis once they have been educated and had time to develop their own separate personality.

But do not think to use my morality as a weapon against me. Your military locations are well known, and extend past the overt barracking of soldiers. Your supply stations, your waypoints for supply caravans, your fetid hovels housing Forsaken scientists working on new and atrocious offenses, your training grounds where those who previously hunted for food and skins are now trained to hunt for elves and humans... these are military fortifications.

Yes, I realize that you have families here. Remove them. Bring them into the militarily-superior safety of your cities, and hide them deep. Shelters are advised. It's a warning the Forsaken did not give either Alliance *or* Horde forces at the Wrath Gate in Northrend. Who would have thought those who were sent to the icy wastes to remove the threat of the Lich King would commit atrocities even he hadn't contemplated? For beings who were brutalized by his plague, it would seem the Forsaken were quite willing to look past it when the plague would serve their Banshee Queen's own ends.

Your new Warchief has little regard for the efforts at diplomatic peace pursued by Thrall. He has stepped up his actions in Ashenvale, he commanded Sylvanas' attack on Gilneas, and he pushes up from Grom'gol northward in a blatant land grab. He has no concern for Alliance families, for their children, for the infirm, he merely removes threats by the most expedient method possible to fuel his own dreams of grandiose conquering.

To the Alliance:
I do not fight this war with relish. I fight it with grim determination. I know of concerns over my methods. I have stated repeatedly that civilians are not intentional targets, that children are not to be murdered, that non-combatants are not to be attacked. Do not believe the propaganda put forth by shadowy elements who pursue their own agendas even as the expense of the freedom I encourage us all, as the Alliance, to fight for, a lasting peace for not only humans and elves, but for orcs and trolls! A place where we can resolve disputes at a table instead of on a battlefield. But the actions of Sylvanas and Garrosh have left us no choice: all diplomatic avenues have been exhausted. I act now because action must be taken.

Do not believe the assertions of splinter councils that I seek war for war's sake. War Councils are no place to debate the morality of war, they are a place to organize deployment and coordinate action. Those who do not wish to fight... DO NOT FIGHT. Those who would sue for peace in the midst of war... WORK TO REMOVE THOSE WHO YOU FEAR WOULD BE UNJUSTLY HARMED.

But do not give information to an enemy only too pleased to play peacemaker long enough to acquire damning tactical statistics, to then be handed off to their overt warmakers and used against us. When we are left a smoking crater in the wake of such maneuvers, your kind will not be spared by them. Do not give supplies to their people: if you give them cloth, they will make ropes to strangle Alliance soldiers in the night. If you give them meat, they will feed soldiers with it so they are strong for an assault. If you give them medicine, they will cure the infected wounds of soldiers so they may return to the battlefield sooner.

Let them look after their own, as we must look after ours! Elves in Ashenvale die while we argue; Gilnean forces intent on reclaiming their home die while we supply their attackers.

Do not let splinter councils tear us apart, Alliance. We must be what we are called: an alliance. Do not lose sight of the goal now!

Could someone please catch me up on what happened? As well as anyone else not informed? I sort of joined this server in the middle of the start of what seems to be a war, and I'm clueless.

((The long and short of it is this, Netosh: Ragefang concluded that all avenues of diplomacy had been exhausted, as repeated attempts by the likes of Jaina Proudmoore and others like her had been rebuffed since Garrosh Hellscream had taken over as Warchief of the Horde. Likewise, Sylvanas Windrunner's actions since the Wrath Gate in Northrend have been unrepentantly evil. As a result, Ragefang has concluded that the only method left to the Alliance is active war until such time as Garrosh Hellscream is removed as Warchief and Sylvanad Windrunner is tried and executed for her crimes.

A War Council was formed to coordinate attacks on the Horde. Discontent rumbled from certain participants in the council because of a difference of perspective on what was and wasn't acceptable during war time. Ragefang's general perspective is that those in the Horde who do not actively condemn and disown Garrosh and Sylvanas are tacitly supporting either/both, and have marked themselves as enemies. To his way of thinking, enemies in war time are to be given no quarter. He'll stay his blade for those who surrender, and likewise for those who actively remove themselves from participation in the Horde's war machine, meaning they undertake no missions for the Horde, do not contribute to the Horde's economy by purchasing from Horde vendors, etc.

Some have concern that Ragefang will initiate attacks against innocents, which he's repeatedly said he wouldn't. He's likewise, however, said that while he won't initiate attacks against civilians or children, he won't let their presence at military locations stay an attack. It's his concern that the less moral elements in the Horde would simply use his unwillingness to attack innocents as a shield to protect themselves: "Oh look! There are civilians and children here! If you attack us here, you're just a war criminal!"

There are some who feel that not enough has been done to sue for peace yet, or worry that peaceful elements within the Horde are being lumped in with the less-savory types. Some have split off from the War Council, others have started to form their own counter-Council for whatever bizarre reason, and in general you have a lot of confusion about what is and isn't allowable within the boundaries of a war.

The intent here, OOC, is to stir up some RP-PvP. We aren't a PvP realm by any means, but we have a fair number of people in both factions that enjoy PvP. Since Mists of Pandaria is going to have such a huge focus on the actual war between the Alliance and Horde, for the first time since probably 2004, this is a nice way to really tie in our RP to what's happening in the Lore, as we're often forced to tell our RP stories off to one side of the game's storyline at any given moment. It often puts us in a position where we have to ignore that there's an actual, full-scale war between the two factions, or if we participate in that war, we have to do so in a fashion that doesn't involve much RP beyond saying "I'm a soldier in such-and-such a military organization."

There's more to it than that, but that's the general gist of things right now. Others are likely to add some additional details as they see it.))

04/07/2012 08:50 AMPosted by Ragefang

Likewise, Sylvanas Windrunner's actions since the Wrath Gate in Northrend have been unrepentantly evil.

((As far as Ragefang is concerned, that is :) Most people that have done Silverpine disagree~

But, yes, basically what he said. Ragefang hates Garrosh and Sylvanas! He formed a council to unite Alliance against the Horde. He's a bit of an extremist, so he's have some trouble with people turning against him lately and abandoning his cause.))

((That is amazing. As I talked to ragefang in-game, my character would love to be a commander in Ashenvale. of course, I'm going to try to get him to 85 before he tries such a bold move at so be on the war council, as he is not known by many now and he's not too popular among the people. But he does care about Ashenvale, and he seeks to end the suffering for the Kaldorei there.))